After surging late in 2021, FSU defense has major confidence entering camp
Jammie Robinson, Fabien Lovett and Mike Norvell all feel the same way heading into the 2022 season.
The Florida State veteran defenders, along with their head coach, shared a consistent message during their appearances at ACC Kickoff in Charlotte last week. They believe the final two months of last season were a precursor to the overall improvement FSU’s defense will make in Year 3 of the Norvell/defensive coordinator Adam Fuller regime.
Not only did Lovett and Robinson decide to come back for another season, after flirting with the NFL, but the Seminoles bring back nearly every other rotation player from a defense that was actually one of the better ones in the conference over the final eight games of 2021.
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"Going into last season we knew we had a lot of young talent," Norvell said. "We had a lot of youth, especially in linebacker to the back end. So, seeing them grow, I mean, we watched it unfold. The second half of the Louisville game on, it was a different defense. You take the first half of Louisville and we probably played as bad as you can imagine.
"But they grew through the experiences they were able to have. They communicated better. The attention to detail, the understanding of coverages and fits, all those things that take time. And you see guys that really emerged."
He mentioned linebacker Kalen DeLoach, along with defensive backs Akeem Dent, Omarion Cooper and Kevin Knowles, as players who improved by leaps and bounds as the season wore on.
Yes, Jermaine Johnson is gone. So is Keir Thomas.
And they might have been the two best and most consistent players on the defense in 2021.
But Robinson and Lovett are back. So is Robert Cooper. Along with the aforementioned defensive backs and Deloach. And Norvell went and added two high-profile transfers in defensive end Jared Verse and linebacker Tatum Bethune.
It was these additions, as well as the way the Seminoles played those final two months, that helped convince Robinson he should stick around for one more year.
As he and Lovett both said last week at Kickoff, they could see the pieces of the puzzle coming together.
"It all came together, like everybody's buying in and trying to help change the whole Florida State program," Robinson said. "And we're coming. We're coming. I can see it happening."
It started last season. As Norvell mentioned, halfway through the Louisville game the Seminoles looked as if they could be one of the worst defenses in the Power 5.
They had already given up 31 points, and that was on the heels of giving up 35 to Wake Forest, 41 to Notre Dame and two fourth-quarter touchdown drives to lowly Jacksonville State.
But then the Seminoles went out and shut out the Cardinals in the second half.
And from that point forward, the defense wasn't terrible. It wasn't embarrassing. It was actually pretty good. Florida State didn't give up more than 30 points the rest of the season.
The defense became a strength.
And Lovett expects it to be stronger in 2022.
"It was a tough process, I'm not going to lie to you," the defensive tackle said. "It was hard coming from 0-4 to actually starting to win games. It was a process. We had to stay down and trust the process, because at the end of the day everything happens for a reason. We were 0-4 for a reason. Everything was teaching us a lesson about what we needed to do, and the little things we needed to lock in on and focus on."
The secondary improved soon after Robinson moved back to safety and Cooper and Knowles were inserted into the starting lineup. The linebacking corps got better as DeLoach and D.J. Lundy and Amari Gainer got more reps.
And the defensive line, thanks to Cooper, Lovett, Johnson and Thomas, became a force.
Two of those four are gone. But the two guys in the middle - Cooper and Lovett - are back. And the back-seven has worlds of experience returning as the Seminoles try to make another jump on defense.
In 2020, the unit ranked 107th in the country in yards allowed at 456.1 per game.
In 2021, it was 66th at 377.8 yards per game.
Now 2022 is about to start. And Norvell can see his vision for the program starting to take shape on that side of the ball.
"We've been able to create depth," he said. "You take that, coupled with talent, growth and development, and that's what has us very excited about this year."
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